Henan Airlines crash update

Henan Airlines is based in Henan Province, China and its former name is Kunpeng Airlines, renamed just earlier this year. It flies smaller regional jets to places in north and northeast China. The plane involved in the crash of August 16 was an Embraer-made E-190 jet. It burst into flames as it hit the ground, killing 43 people, near Lindu airport on the outskirts of Yichun, a city in Heilongjiang Province.

Statements from the survivors revealed that there was severe turbulence as the plane made its approach. Several strong jolts struck the plane, causing luggage to fall down from overhead bins. When the plane stopped, as stated by a survivor, they were unable to open the emergency exits but he was able to ran away from the burning crash through a hole in the wall of a cabin near the first row of seats.

Conviasa Airlines crash

Here's another airplane crash, this time in Venezuela involving an ATR-42-300 turboprop. The plane was operated by Conviasa Airlines, carrying 47 passengers during the time of the crash, which occurred on Monday, September 13. Fortunately, 36 survived as the plane hit the ground in Puerto Ordaz, on the Orinoco River, in Bolivar state. The flight originated from the Venezuelan Caribbean resort island of Margarita.

The pilot was able to radio air traffic control stating that they were having technical difficulties and early reports stated that the pilot seemed to have lost control of the plane before it hit the ground where it broke into two and caught fire.

ATR-42-300s are manufactured by the consortium of EADS and Alenia, based in Toulouse, France. The company employs around 850 people and is considered a leader in the 50-75 seater turboprop market. Conviasa Airlines is a state-owned company which flies to several destinations, like Tehran, Damascus, Buenos Aires and to places in the Caribbean.

Aires Airlines crash update

Here's an update on the crash of Aires Flight 4C-8250 B737-700 aircraft during landing at the Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport (ADZ), San Andres Island, Colombia. The plane crashed about 80 meters short of the 2300-meter runway at 01:50 AM local time of Monday morning, August 16. During the time of the crash, there were thunderstorms in the area. Reports said that there were multiple lightning strikes in the area, in fact, there were 11 lightning strikes within 10 kilometers from the runway during a 5-minute period.

The plane skidded on its belly and the fuselage broke into three sections with pieces of the landing gear and an engine breaking away from the plane.

Reports also said that the left wing fuel tank split open but there was no fire. This is the reason why the crew and the passengers except one escaped alive. Now it was reported that the lone fatality who died of a heart attack as initially stated, in fact, was killed by blows sustained during the crash, as revealed by an autopsy performed on the 72-year old woman. There was also another passenger, an 11-year old girl, who suffered a very severe brain injury and was in critical condition.

The B737-700 airplane has a registry no. HK-4682 and is one of the 4 B737-700s leased by Aires from AWAS. Aires Airlines is Colombia's 2nd largest airline after Avianca, which also operates a fleet of Bombardier Dash 8 Q200s and Q400s.